Sacramento, CA
Hello. Recently picked up an amazing price Z4 on craigslist and despite being mostly perfect mechanically, this is an issue that isn't critical at all but completely ruins the feel of the car for me.
Basically, there is about 1-1.5 inches of play IN EITHER DIRECTION in the steering wheel measured from the top of the wheel along the circumference.
Now when driving the car, it feels like basically nothing is happening in that center area, but evidently something is, we'll get to that. That feeling on center feels as if you're driving a heavily assisted power steering vehicle. You could breath on the wheel and it would turn. It's very light, and doesn't feel sporty at all. However, once you get to the end of the dead zone, it's as if there is a wall where suddenly the torque required to turn the wheel is normal. Past that point, it as heavy and responsive and feels exactly like I'd expect a Z4 to feel. If I change steering direction past that point, like mid-turn, then there is no play. As I said, once the wheel is turned past that point it feels fine. It's just in that center dead zone area, there is nothing.
I finally lifted the front of the car up, and well the story is basically identical to when the car is driving. The dead zone is still very apparent. However, what surprised me, is that in that dead zone, the wheels DO still move, at least when it's in the air. While driving, I swear the car didn't change direction when steering in the dead zone, but in the air the entire steering system moves with no play (had a person turn the wheel while I looked all over the column and rack and stuff).
The wheels themselves have the slightest amount of wiggle, but it's not bad and definitely isn't enough to cause this issue.
There is a clunking noise when switching steering direction rapidly, but it happens even outside the dead zone so I don't think it's related.
Fixes I've tried:
-Tightening steering rack preload adjustment (up to 1/4 turn) Result: No change in dead zone, but the steering is heavier.
At this point I'm not sure what this could be. I don't have any other symptoms of bushing wear, and from visual inspection all the major ones look great.
I'd appreciate some insight on what this could be, because I really hate that my daily driver (Model 3) feels like it has the steering from a Koenigsegg in comparison to my purpose built SPORTS CAR!
Link to video:
Basically, there is about 1-1.5 inches of play IN EITHER DIRECTION in the steering wheel measured from the top of the wheel along the circumference.
Now when driving the car, it feels like basically nothing is happening in that center area, but evidently something is, we'll get to that. That feeling on center feels as if you're driving a heavily assisted power steering vehicle. You could breath on the wheel and it would turn. It's very light, and doesn't feel sporty at all. However, once you get to the end of the dead zone, it's as if there is a wall where suddenly the torque required to turn the wheel is normal. Past that point, it as heavy and responsive and feels exactly like I'd expect a Z4 to feel. If I change steering direction past that point, like mid-turn, then there is no play. As I said, once the wheel is turned past that point it feels fine. It's just in that center dead zone area, there is nothing.
I finally lifted the front of the car up, and well the story is basically identical to when the car is driving. The dead zone is still very apparent. However, what surprised me, is that in that dead zone, the wheels DO still move, at least when it's in the air. While driving, I swear the car didn't change direction when steering in the dead zone, but in the air the entire steering system moves with no play (had a person turn the wheel while I looked all over the column and rack and stuff).
The wheels themselves have the slightest amount of wiggle, but it's not bad and definitely isn't enough to cause this issue.
There is a clunking noise when switching steering direction rapidly, but it happens even outside the dead zone so I don't think it's related.
Fixes I've tried:
-Tightening steering rack preload adjustment (up to 1/4 turn) Result: No change in dead zone, but the steering is heavier.
At this point I'm not sure what this could be. I don't have any other symptoms of bushing wear, and from visual inspection all the major ones look great.
I'd appreciate some insight on what this could be, because I really hate that my daily driver (Model 3) feels like it has the steering from a Koenigsegg in comparison to my purpose built SPORTS CAR!
Link to video:
Devon
